Latics to beat Orient?

05 Oct 2013 03:16:34

Johnson - "it's up to us to try to slay the dragon"

The Latics aim to be the first team to beat Leyton Orient this season when they take on the league leaders at Boundary Park today. The O's have won eight games and drawn the other. Boss Lee Johnson is relishing the idea of being the first team to beat Russell Slade’s side. He said, “Orient have had a great start, so it’ll be difficult for us. They’ve been on an unbelievable run and they will be buzzing, but the pressure on them now is to try to sustain that. They won’t be complacent, but it’s up to us to try to slay the dragon. Every great run has to come to an end. Everybody seems to have bought into the philosophy I’ve tried to introduce, and I’m determined not to deviate from that. I’ll be sticking to my values. It’s a good one for Charlie MacDonald. It’s always nice to play against your old club. He has been hurting this week, though. He missed chances at Crawley, but for me the most important thing is that he’s getting in there in the first place. I see every day in training what a good finisher he is, so hopefully if he gets a chance tomorrow he’ll stick it away.” “Before the season if you’d have asked me how many points we’d have had after 10 games, I’d have said probably 14 - realistic for the group at the time. We haven’t achieved that and it’s disappointing, but, again, I think anyone can see that we could so easily have had those 14 points. That might be just me being biased, but that’s how I feel. I get upset, but by Monday I’m bright and sharp, and by Thursday I’m buzzing for the game again. I know people have their opinions about things and I understand that, but I know we’re going in the right direction. I know I’ve got a lot of improving to do myself, and of course I want that to benefit everyone at Oldham.”